France’s far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party has elected Jordan Bardela as its new president, overwhelmingly backing the 27-year-old member of the European Parliament to succeed Marine Le Pen in the post. Bardella, a party stalwart who had already been interim president for a year, won nearly 85 percent of the party’s vote, compared to 15 percent for challenger Louis Allot, who is Le Pen’s former running mate and mayor of the southern city of Perpignan. His nomination on Saturday comes after the party had its best performance in parliamentary elections earlier this year, winning 89 seats even as Le Pen failed to unseat Emmanuel Macron in her third presidential bid. It is the first time that the party will be led by someone who is not a member of the Le Pen family. Le Pen, who has toned down some of the party’s anti-immigrant, Eurosceptic policies, resigned from the RN leadership structure in 2021 ahead of her failed presidential bid in this year’s election. “I’m not leaving the RN for a holiday. I will be where the country needs me,” Le Pen said at Saturday’s party conference. He is widely expected to make another presidential bid in 2027. Bardella, who comes from a tough working-class neighborhood, has said she will continue her efforts to woo voters beyond the party’s far-right core. He faces the daunting task of putting the party on a solid financial footing as it faces investigations into alleged misuse of public funds by party members, including Le Pen. Bardella told the Reuters news agency last week that the fact that someone outside the Le Pen family could preside over the RN represented a “small cultural revolution”. The former National Front party was founded in 1972 by Marine’s father, Jean-Marie Le Pen. Bardela has become one of Le Pen’s most recognized lieutenants in the French media. His quick wit and brutal soundbites have made him a formidable opponent for Macron’s ministers and lawmakers on television. A boxing fan raised in a social housing estate on the outskirts of Paris, Bardella quickly rose through the ranks of the party. In 2019, he led his campaign for the European elections when he came in first place just ahead of Macron’s centrist party. Bardela takes power after the French parliament on Friday slashed the wages of a far-right lawmaker and temporarily banned him from the chamber for shouting “Go back to Africa!” as a black lawmaker spoke during a House session.
